Share 17: The evangelism edition

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the stewardship magazine 17

the evangelism edition Alpha, online giving update and MUCH more

transforming generosity

about us

We are Stewardship, a charity that effectively releases resources to support individuals, charities and organisations worldwide. Our mission is to enable you to live and give generously, advancing the Kingdom.

We believe that generosity is transformational, for the giver and for the receiver. Our work inspires and supports a generous resourcing community, with transformational results.

We are delighted to partner with you in your journey of generosity. contact us PO Box 99, Loughton, Essex, IG10 3QJ 020 8502 5600 enquiries@stewardship.org.uk www.stewardship.org.uk You can contact the editor by emailing editor@stewardship.org.uk Editor: Craig Borlase Design: www.adeptdesign.co.uk

editorial My daughter, Caitlin – an early and avid reader – completed Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, when she was six years of age. Inspired by one of the characters in the novel, she decided to grow her hair and donate it to make a wig to help a child suffering from cancer. She asked her mother and me not to tell anyone of her plans.

Now eight years old, her hair is finally long enough to donate. Can you imagine the knots, tangles and tears of the last two years? Nonetheless, Caitlin was determined and persevered. We honoured her request for anonymity, but when she learned her story might inspire others, she agreed to tell others of her plans.

She has inspired her classmates to consider the needs of others – and to consider how they, too, might get personally involved. In a time of austerity, compassion and generosity need not be victims – in fact, these values, expressed in abundance, serve to inspire us to think beyond ourselves.

We have devoted this issue to evangelism. The MerriamWebster dictionary defines evangelism as ‘the winning or revival of personal commitments to Christ’. In the following pages you will read more about individuals and organisations engaged in evangelisation, but there is an overriding thought we wish to share with you. Evangelism is not restricted to ordained ministers or those working for Christian organisations. Each of us – teacher, mechanic, judge, surfer, barrister or barista – can and should view themselves as an evangelist.

Ken Costa, Church Warden, Chairman of Lazard International and author of God at Work, said this: ‘... I have found that the God who created and sustains the world is also the God of the workplace. If the Christian faith is not relevant in the workplace, it is not relevant at all…’

Ken and Caitlin, each in their own way motivated by faith, are evangelists intent on living the Gospel each and every day.

Stewardship is the operating name of Stewardship Services (UKET) Limited, a registered charity in England and Wales no. 234714 and a company limited by guarantee no. 90305

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We trust that you find the evangelists on the following pages inspiring.

Michael O’Neill Chief Executive

Evangelism is not restricted to ordained ministers or those working for Christian organisations.

Each of us – teacher, mechanic, judge, surfer, barrister or barista - can and should view themselves as an evangelist.

Features...

6-8 Stewardship in action

14-17 J John

18-19 The rise and rise of Alpha

24-26 Cross Cultural Mentoring

The magazine is printed on paper from farmed forests: for each tree felled, another is planted. The paper is ­­­­chlorine-free and environmentally friendly.

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two for the One Ruth Leigh asks two different evangelists – one who works with surfers, the other who spends his time in cities – how they do it.

Phil: We’re the bridge between beach and church, serving the hardcore surfing community through long-term relationships. It’s all about servanthood.

Phil: Look to the long-term. Being real and investing in relationships has an amazing effect.

Phil: I started out with Christian Surfers International (CSI) 18 years ago and I’m just as excited about it now as I was then. Seeing the way in which God answers prayers so specifically has helped my faith grow.

Phil: We knew a young guy who had lots of friends in CSI. They invested time in him, but when he moved to Croyde they handed the baton to the North Devon branch of CSI. By the end of the summer, he knew about God but didn’t take Him seriously. He rang CSI in South Africa for a job, and they invested another four-five months in him! I got a message from him saying “Well Phil, you’ll be glad to hear that four days before I left South Africa, I finally made that commitment!”

Phil: I’m bolstering up the operations and admin side of CSI to keep adding value. I also want to invest in our leaders.

Phil: Get prayer support. Be genuine. Don’t dilute what you’re trying to achieve.

Phil Williams is the Europe Regional Co-ordinator and UK Director of CSI - Christian Surfers International (www.christiansurfers.net) Both are full-time Christian workers, 10

: How do you communicate your faith with others?

Tim: I train and equip Christians to engage with others confidently. Many of them are afraid to talk about their faith. Recently, I took a group to the UCL campus and got them talking face-to-face with people about Jesus.

: What approaches have Tim: I find a well-worded questionnaire helps to open worked better than others? up conversations. : How has your own faith grown/ changed while you’ve been doing this?

Tim: My faith in what God can do has grown dramatically! As an introvert, I’m not a natural evangelist. However, I’ve learnt that it’s all about the Holy Spirit and that changes everything.

: What’s your favorite story to tell of how you’ve seen a life turned around through this work?

Tim: We had a young lad round for breakfast at our house in Woodbury. I sensed that he needed help to arrive at the place where he’d meet Jesus. We talked for four hours, at the end of which he made a decision.

He went away rejoicing!

: What next?

: What advice would you give to others considering doing something similar?

Tim: More of the same! I’m trusting God to open more doors of opportunity.

Tim: Find someone doing something similar and get alongside them.

Don’t do it alone!

Tim Moyler is Associate Staff with Agapé UK (www.agape.org.uk) supported by Stewardship.

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risky business Call it ‘incarnational Christianity’ or ‘lifestyle evangelism’, the fact remains that choosing to live in community with those on the margins of society is as old as Christianity itself. But it’s also rare, especially when you’ve graduated from a top university and landed a great job in the city. Yet that’s precisely what 23-year-old Michael Isola – as well as 24 others – decided to do last summer.

They call it Mission Year, and the concept couldn’t be simpler: participants are immersed for a year in the life of an inner city church, working as a team to meet the social and spiritual needs of the local community. Some volunteer all their time, while others, like city banker Michael, pursue their careers during the day, using their spare time to join in the work among the community.

“I would never have imagined myself doing this,” explains Michael. “Five years ago I was a 17-year-old determined to get out of the council estate I had grown up on, looking for a career to take me away from it all.”

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Yet while studying Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford, Michael shared a house with a friend who had encountered a similar programme in Atlanta, USA. “We talked a lot about the importance of being more than a visitor and basing yourself within a community, being a part of it. I met with Nat Wei as well (see right) and he suggested Mission Year to me.

But the tipping point was when my 16-year-old cousin was murdered in Hackney. She was shot the same day that I met Nat; it was a shock, but left me determined not just to talk to young people, but to live among them and make more of an impact.”

From food distribution to after school clubs, Michael and the other Mission Year participants are devoting the very best that they have to supporting the work of the local church. Asked about the challenges, Michael’s focus shifts instantly to the benefits: “While I’m young and flexible it’s good to take a risk and learn something new and for work colleagues it’s been amazing. Talking about Mission Year has opened up so many opportunities to share my faith in an easy way.”

Like we said, it’s nothing new. But this level of sacrifice, commitment and faith-fuelled risk is always at the heart of God-driven transformation.

Nat Wei - Lord Wei of Shoreditch and patron and visionary behind Mission Year – on the value of the programme…

“The local church has huge potential to address issues in society, because in theory it should be right there in the heart of the community, on the ground and aware of what’s going on. Churches have excellent resources to offer – buildings, people, time, HOPE. What’s more, there are excellent ministries available that churches can tap into and run themselves, such as Foodbank and Christians Against Poverty, which can be really strategic and effective at tackling certain issues communities often face. We have great Christian ministries to draw from but, at the end of the day, what separates the local church from other local organisations, many of which do excellent work, is that we carry the promise of ‘a hope and a future’. Looking back to the Disciples and looking forward through Scripture, we know that the potential for transformation of individual lives and of communities through the local church is vast.

Mission Year is a great opportunity for those working in the City and other highly paid professionals to connect with a local community in deprived areas. The transformation of society will come about when rich Christians choose to live differently and to get involved with the poor.”

Editor’s Note: our Chief Executive, Michael O’Neill, is a trustee of Mission Year

You can give online to Mission Year, with a credit or debit card, using a new online donation page provided by Stewardship.

Visit www.missionyear.org.uk to make your gift.

Our new online giving service makes it easy for charities like Mission Year to raise support. Find out how we can help you at www.stewardship.org.uk 13

t’s

Speaker, author and one of the most gifted communicators of his generation, J.John opens up on evangelism, generosity and why each of us is worth more than a whole herd of pigs

not that complicated...

Stewardship: How has the church’s attitude to evangelism changed since you became a Christian?

J.John: If you ask ‘what is the message of the church?’ essentially it is this: look up (worship), look in (well-being) and look out (witness). The trouble is that all the research indicates that the church today spends 95% of its time, energy, money, man-power and woman-power on worship and well-being – and less than 5% on witness. That’s a significant imbalance. How has our attitude to evangelism changed since I became a Christian in 1975? Well, that 5% used to be 10%. And today the figure’s getting even smaller.

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: Why? J: There’s a saying: compared to evangelism, everything else that the church is doing is like rearranging the furniture while the house is on fire. We’ve lost our intentionality, lost that sense that all the work we do looking in and looking up is connected to us looking out.

The Apostle Paul told Timothy to ‘do the work of an evangelist.’ He didn’t say: ‘stop being a church leader and become an evangelist.’

He wanted Timothy to lead the church as if he was an evangelist. Sadly, I think that’s a mindset that doesn’t really exist today. But it’s a challenge that’s open to all: if you’re a

worship leader do it as if you’re an evangelist, if you’re on the welcome desk, do it as if you’re an evangelist, if you’re a cleaner or youth worker, do it all with the attitude and approach of an evangelist. : OK, so can you define evangelism?

J: Simply put, it’s giving out an invitation to a party that’s out of this world. And the big question is therefore how do we give out that invitation? interview continues on page 16

The trouble is that all the research indicates that the church today spends 95% of its time, energy, money, man-power and woman-power on worship and well-being – and less than 5% on witness.

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Family, friends, neighbours, colleagues.

We talk about reaching ‘the world’ but we will only do it by reaching our world, person by person.

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: And why do people hold those invites back?

J: There are any number of reasons, from bad methodology, a lack of encouragement, to not being properly equipped or lacking in confidence. But in Acts 1:8, we see that when the disciples received the Holy Spirit they were empowered to be witnesses. The reality is that we are all witnesses: either we’re good witnesses or we’re bad witnesses. Then Jesus tells them to ‘go out into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the ends of the earth.’ He gave them – and us – an actual strategy. What did Jerusalem represent? It was the place where Peter denied Jesus and where only John was present at the crucifixion; Jesus wanted the disciples to start in the place of their greatest failure.

Where is that for most of us?

Family, friends, neighbours, colleagues. We talk about reaching ‘the world’ but we will only do it by reaching our world, person by person.

It’s not that complicated; I honestly think that you can break down evangelism to three areas: by praying, by caring, by sharing. We can all do these things.

: Do you see a connection between generosity and evangelism?

J: I think that they’re the same thing. God’s generosity made him come to earth; it’s all about giving. Remember the time when Jesus sees this man foaming at the mouth, with demons that called themselves Legion? Jesus casts out the demons into 2,000 pigs that then run down the hill and drown. I read the story once and it made me wonder what those pigs would cost. So we wrote to the Agricultural Board and they replied: 2,000 pigs would set you back £120,000.

So Jesus sacrifices 2,000 pigs to help one man. In other words, one man was worth more than 2,000 pigs, one man is worth more than the local economy. I think part of our problem is that we don’t see how valuable a life is, we skimp and don’t invest enough in reaching lost people.

Why not invest in reaching other people? I like what D. L. Moody said: God will allow millions of dollars to pass through my hands so long as none stick. So I think I’ve realised more and more that I am just a guardian of what God has entrusted to me. As we see need, we respond. : And how can Philo and Stewardship supporters help each other?

J: We surveyed 1,017 missiondriven UK churches, asking their leaders if in the last ten years they had taught their congregation how to evangelise – not just talked about it, but actually taught it.

Out of all of them there were just 36 who said ‘yes’.

: So tell us what you’ve learnt about generosity?

My son wanted to learn how to drive, so what did we do?

We bought him some driving lessons. We need to admit where we need a little help.

So I’ve written a six-session course called Breaking News to encourage and equip people to pray, care and share.

J: My dad died ten years ago and late in the day at the funeral, a man turned to the rest of us and said ‘Did George leave much?’ I turned and said: ‘Yes. He left everything.

He left the lot.’ It was a good reminder of the fact that if we can’t take it with us when we die, why not send it on ahead?

Getting back to the very first question about what has changed over the years, the truth is that there are far fewer evangelists now than when I started. So I would urge Stewardship readers to keep supporting evangelists. Like Jesus said, the fields are ripe, but the labourers are few.

For more information on J.John – including the Breaking News course – visit www.philotrust.com

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the rise and rise of Alpha Listen to the pundits and they’ll tell you that church figures are only heading south. But Alpha has a different story to tell: one of consistent growth that has spread around the world.

Alpha’s growth has been one of the most remarkable stories of recent years. What started as an in-house initiative to help newcomers explore the faith has become nothing short of a phenomenon. Under the leadership of the then Curate at Holy Trinity Brompton, Nicky Gumbel, Alpha has gone from hosting a handful of courses in the early 1990s to running over 42,000 across 163 countries, with a total number of guests reaching 15 million.

Somewhere along the way, Alpha reworked the rules about evangelism, placing it in each of our hands, reaching out to our neighbours.

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That rise has not gone unnoticed, with Alpha winning some friends in high places.

According to former UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, “Alpha... is probably the most interesting and incredible thing going on in our Christian world.”

Yet the growth of Alpha is not just told through the numbers of attendees or headlines in national publications.

In recent years, Alpha has grown horizontally as well as vertically, with off-shoots making connections with students, prisoners, HM Armed Forces, seniors, youth, Catholics, office workers and

non-native English speakers, helping 24% of the UK population be aware of Alpha as a Christian course. The popular series of spin-off books has been translated into 112 languages.

Alpha’s rise is not a singleplot story. When viewed in connection with the increasing belief in the potential of the local church and a renewed passion for generosity and justice, it is clear that Alpha might just be the beginning of something even bigger.

“I believe the Alpha Course touches lives. I have seen so many people find a personal relationship with God and a quiet strength in their life after doing the course – me included – and it takes a proud man to say he never needs any help.”

Bear Grylls, TV Adventurer “Alpha is an unqualified triumph.”

The Daily Telegraph, London “The miracle formula church leaders are hoping will reverse this religious decline . . . many claim Alpha has changed their lives and appear genuinely happier for the experience.”

Time Magazine

“The Alpha course is intelligent, biblicallybased, and incredibly interesting. I am convinced that when historians look back on the last few years of church history in the twentieth century they will have to acknowledge that the Alpha course became a significant instrument in bringing thoughtful people to a faith in Christ and into the church. For the inquiring mind, there is nothing better around than the Alpha course.”

Tony Campolo, author and speaker

Visit vimeo.com/2240726 to see the ad or www.alpha.org.uk to find out more

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Love Facebook? Can’t stop Tweeting?

Ever wondered whether there’s room for evangelism amid all the social network noise?

You’re not alone.

Ceri Longville is passionate about the evangelistic power of the web and works for OSCAR, the online portal for UK Christian mission workers, where she helps develop their social networking site (www.oscaractive.net).

Once they’d become ‘friends’, she and Ruth Leigh got messaging…

The traditional church communication channels – parish magazines, faded flyers pinned up on dusty notice boards – are struggling to find their place in the hyperlinked 21st century. “The web is a culture in its own right,” writes Ceri. “We have the opportunity to answer the questions people are asking and establish a dialogue, rather than making

Facebook is a tool to convey the hope I have in Jesus and that opportunity can arise anywhere

generalisations about what non-Christians need to know.”

In 2009, building on her observations of unchurched friends’ response to outreach, Ceri studied for an MA in Global Issues in Contemporary Mission at Redcliffe College.

She wrote her Masters dissertation on reaching the community with church websites. It was written in a deliberately practical style to help churches access the advice contained within it.

Many older church leaders see social networking and web use as trivial. Ceri disagrees. “Most after-church coffee time chat is small talk. When you build up relationships, that’s how they start.

As you learn to trust someone you confide in deeper subjects in more private environments.

Facebook is ideal for that.”

Ceri believes that online communication is a key strategy in sharing faith with others. She sees it as a natural part of life. “Facebook is a tool to convey the hope I have in Jesus and that opportunity can arise anywhere, whether it’s over a coffee with a friend or during a game of Scrabble online. I want to draw close enough to God so that my faith bubbles over wherever I am – online or offline – that’s my ultimate goal.”

Click it: Ceri’s dissertation, “Reaching the Community with Church Websites” can be accessed through: http://bit.ly/churchweb OSCAR is at www.oscar.org.uk 21

legal & financial roundup Kevin Russell offers insight into the world of finance

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‘son of substantial donors’ legislation New laws entitled The Tainted Charity Donations rules have been drafted to replace the ill-fated Substantial Donors legislation. We have reviewed and commented on an early draft. A public draft and consultation was expected to be published in December 2010.

NEW LAWS filing of charity accounts and tax returns – new iXBRL requirement From 1st April 2011 charities that are companies will be required to file their accounts online using iXBRL format.

This is problematical for smaller charities and therefore transitional arrangements have been announced. HMRC has confirmed that until it can provide free software suitable for smaller charities, they will continue to accept accounts in PDF format. However, the tax return and any computations must be filed in iXBRL format using free HMRC software if necessary. For full details, refer to http://bit.ly/ihFBZh

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Equality Act 2010 Much of the Equality Act 2010 came into force on 1 October 2010. Christian charities need to take care to ensure that they do not discriminate unlawfully. Discrimination can be on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.

The Charity Commission has produced Summary Guidance at charitycommission.gov.uk/ Library/equality_act_summary. pdf which covers the ‘charities exemption’ and, in Section C2, the important exemptions for religion or belief organisations. A range of more comprehensive guidance has been produced by the Government Equalities Office (www.equalities.gov.uk) and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (www. equalityhumanrights.com).

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employers’ National Insurance exemption A reminder that an important National Insurance exemption is now available for new businesses set up outside London and the South East between now and 5 September 2013. Exemption is from employer National Insurance contributions for up to £5,000 for each qualifying employee (up to 10) taken on in the first year of operation. This Government Scheme also applies to new trades started by charities, for example, by starting a trading subsidiary. Full details are at http://bit.ly/hmrcNIE

Changes to Accounting Regulations in Scotland Some minor changes to the accounting regulations for Scottish charities come into force for accounting periods beginning after 31 March 2011. Non company charities will be able to prepare receipts and payments accounts up to a gross income of £250,000 (presently £100,000). The ‘gross assets’ part of the statutory audit threshold for all charities is raised from £2.8 million to £3.26 million to align with the commercial company law threshold. There are also changes to the definitions of ‘gross income’, ‘permanent endowment’ and ‘expendable endowment’ and new definitions of ‘liability’ and ‘contingent liability’ (Charities Accounts (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2010).

Northern Ireland The new Charity Commission for Northern Ireland now has its own website. However, the delays in registration of charities continues. The Minister for Social Development has confirmed that the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 needs to be amended to correct a technical defect concerning the public benefit requirement. At the time of writing, there is no confirmed time-frame for this. For latest information, refer to www.charitycommissionni.org.uk

Kevin Russell Technical Director

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